B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 97

Agatha Accolades

The Malice Domestic Conference today announced the finalists for the annual Agatha Awards. This year, the winners will be presented at the virtual More Than Malice online convention to be held from July 14-17. Congratulations to all the nominees:

Best Contemporary Novel

Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews (Minotaur)

Murder in the Bayou Boneyard by Ellen Byron (Crooked Lane Books)

From Beer to Eternity by Sherry Harris (Kensington)

All the Devils are Here by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day (William Morris)

 

Best Historical Novel

The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen (Berkeley)

Fate of a Flapper by Susanna Calkins (Griffin)

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman (Kensington)

Taken Too Soon by Edith Maxwell (Beyond the Page Publishing)

The Turning Tide by Catriona McPherson (Quercus)

 

Best First Novel

A Spell for Trouble by Esme Addison (Crooked Lane Books)

Winter Witness by Tina deBelgarde (Level Best Books)

Derailed by Mary Keliikoa (Epicenter Press, Inc.)

Murder at the Mena House by Erica Ruth Neubauer (Kensington)

Murder Most Sweet by Laura Jensen Walker (Kensington)

 

Best Short Story

"Dear Emily Etiquette" by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Sep/Oct)

"The Red Herrings at Killington Inn" by Shawn Reilly Simmons Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories (Level Best Books)

"The Boy Detective & The Summer of '74" by Art Taylor (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Jan/Feb)

"Elysian Fields" by Gabriel Valjan California Schemin': The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology (Wildside Press)

"The 25 Year Engagement" by James Ziskin In League with Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon (Pegasus Crime)

 

Best Non-Fiction

Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy by Leslie Brody (Seal Press)

American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson (G. P. Putnam)

Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club by Martin Edwards (Collins Crime Club)

Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane (Chicago Review Press)

H. R. F. Keating: A Life of Crime by Sheila Mitchell (Level Best Books)

 

Best Children's/YA Mystery

Midnight at the Barclay Hotel by Fleur Bradley (Viking Books for Young Readers)

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Algonquin Young Readers)

Saltwater Secrets by Cindy Callaghan (Aladdin)

From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks (Katherine Teagen Books)

Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco by Richard Narvaez (Piñata Books)

          

FFB: Harbingers of Fear

Welsh-born author Dorothy Simpson (b. 1933) started out her career as a French teacher and then spent many years as a marriage counselor, before turning to writing full time. She's known for the fifteen books in her series featuring Inspector Luke Thanet, the last of which was published in 1999 before a severe repetitive stress injury forced her to stop writing in 2000. One of the Thanet series, Last Seen Alive, received the Silver Dagger Award from the UK Crime Writers Association in 1985.



Simpson's very first novel was the 1977 psychological thriller Harbingers of Fear. Although that book was successful, Simpson's next four manuscripts were rejected, which is why she turned to writing the more traditional procedurals, determined to "devote her next efforts to creating an intriguing murder mystery staged around an engaging sleuth." Harbingers of Fear remains Simpson's only standalone thriller.



The plot of the novel centers on pregnant wife Sarah Royd, who finds a strange message left in her purse, BOAST NOT THYSELF OF TOMORROW; FOR THOU KNOWEST NOT WHAT A DAY MAY BRING FORTH, and thinks it might be the work of a religious maniac. But soon she realizes she's also being spied on and more of the sinister white cards with their macabre prophecies mysteriously appear and vanish after she has read them, each message more menacing than the last.



Out of fear, she turns to her husband, to friends and to the police, but none of them believes her, all attributing her claims to pregnancy hormones and hysteria. Left to fend for herself, Sarah delves into the mystery, starting to wonder herself if she's really going insane—as everyone seems to believe—until she's driven to a final, fateful confrontation with the source of her terror.



Since the author was a marriage counselor herself, it's not surprising that the relationship between the introspective, insecure Sarah and her strong-willed, much older husband would be as important to the plot as the mystery of the campaign to terrorize Sarah. Fortunately, the book doesn't read like a marriage manual, with the characters well drawn. Or, as Kirkus said of another Simpson title, "Straightforward and absorbing, deftly written and adroitly plotted: another quiet winner."



Harbingers of Fear was reprinted as part of the Black Dagger Crime Series in 1986, and several of the author's works were also published in new editions from the mid-1990s to 2001. But all of Simpson's novels are somewhat difficult to find and will hopefully benefit from the increasing move of backlists to digital versions.

          

Mystery Melange

The British Book Awards shortlists have been announced, including the honorees in the Crime & Thriller category: Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith; The Sentinel by Lee Child and Andrew Child; The Patient Man by Joy Ellis; The Guest List by Lucy Foley; The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman; and A Song for The Dark Times by Ian Rankin.

Deadly Pleasures Magazine announced the 2021 Barry Award nominations, with winners to be announced at the New Orleans Bouchercon opening ceremonies August 26. The Best Novel finalists include The Boy From The Woods by Harlan Coben; The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly; Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby; And Now She's Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall; Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz, and All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny. For the lists in all the other categories, check out this list from Shots Magazine.

The Audio Publishers Association announced the winners of this year's Audie Awards for excellence in audiobooks. The winner in the Mystery Category was Michael Connelly's Fair Warning, read by Peter Giles and Zach Villa (see the other finalists here); while the winner in the Thriller Category was When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole, read by Susan Dalian, and Jay Aaseng (click here for the other finalists).

Multiple award-winning crime fiction author, Elizabeth George is publishing Mastering the Process: From Idea to Novel, which goes on sale next month on April 6. The book is described as "A master class on fiction writing" in which George takes the reader through her entire process of researching, outlining, and writing book such as her Inspector Lynley novel, Careless in Red. George will be doing a handful of virtual workshops to support the paperback publication: April 7 at Barr Memorial Library in Fort Knox, KY; April 10 at Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA; and April 14 at Books & Books in Miami, FL.

This year's virtual Malice Domestic convention, More Than Malice, has announced additional authors who will be part of the lineup, including Donna Andrews, Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Rachel Howzell Hall, Charlaine Harris, Sheila Mitchell, and Katherine Hall Page. Malice took an enormous financial hit due to the ongoing pandemic and the cancellation of two in-person conventions and says they "truly appreciate the generous support of so many from the Malice Community and Family and look forward to bringing you a spectacular event featuring old friends and new ones." You can click here to register at the early-bird price for the festival, which takes place July 14th-17th.

Libraries, booksellers, publishers, and festivals are being invited to take part in the UK's National Crime Reading Month this June. The annual festival is held throughout the UK, and is hosted by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). Secretary of the CWA, Dea Parkin, added: “This summer, nobody knows if they will be able to escape abroad on holiday. One thing that is guaranteed is the option to escape through a good book. We hope National Crime Reading Month this June will lead the great escape we all desperately need after such a difficult year.”

Volume 39, no. 1 of Clues: A Journal of Detection is out, guest edited by Eva Burke and Clare Clarke. The theme for the issue is domestic noir, with essays on such topics as "At Home in Irish Crime Fiction"; "I Am Not the Girl I Used to Be": Remembering the Femme Fatale in The Girl on the Train; "Killing Bluebeard: Claiming Subversive Femininity in Agatha Christie’s "Philomel Cottage" and The Stranger, and much more, including interviews and reviews.

Crime and comic writer, Alex Segura, has teamed with fellow mystery novelist Elizabeth Little, artist David Hahn, colorist Ellie Wright, letterer Taylor Esposito and veteran editor Joseph Illidge to create a new type of superhero comic.

If you're a fan of spy fiction, Alma Katsu, author and retired intelligence professional, took a look at the "Best Spy Novels Written by Spies, According to a Spy."

This story is a lot of fun ... Sherlock Holmes and the Loch Ness Monster?

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Justice for Jessica."

In the Q&A roundup, crime author Gerard Brennan spoke with The Irish News about the of writing his strong female-led new novel, Shot; Elly Griffiths chatted with Writer's Digest about what it was like to write her latest crime novel, The Postscript Murders, using multiple points of view; and Write 2 Be Me magazine welcomed former police detective turned author, Caroline Mitchell, shortlisted for the International Thriller Awards and Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Awards.

         Related StoriesMystery Melange 

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

David Strathairn will join Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, and Harris Dickinson in the film adaptation of Where The Crawdads Sing, based on Delia Owens’s best-selling novel. Directed by Olivia Newman, the project takes place in the mid-20th century South and centers on Kya, a young woman who is abandoned by her family and has to raise herself all alone in the marshes outside of her small town. However, when her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya is thrust into the spotlight, instantly branded by the local townspeople and law enforcement as the prime suspect for his murder.

Jamie Foxx, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, January Jones, Maika Monroe, and Andrew Dice Clay are set to star in the action-thriller, God Is A Bullet. Written and directed by Nick Cassavetes and based on the novel of the same name by Boston Teran, the film centers on vice detective, Bob Hightower (Coster-Waldau), who finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a satanic cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force, gets tattoos, and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the cult leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin (Monroe). Foxx will play the pivotal supporting role of "The Ferryman."

Max Beesley has joined the cast of Guy Ritchie’s untitled latest action thriller, formerly known as Five Eyes, opposite Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett, and Cary Elwes. The feature follows an MI6 agent (Statham) who is recruited by a global intelligence agency to track down and stop the sale of a deadly new weapons technology that threatens to disrupt the world order. Beesley plays a respectable lawyer and consigliere to a billionaire arms broker (Hartnett), who can "also handle himself in a fight."

Signature Entertainment has acquired the mob crime-drama, The Birthday Cake, for UK-Ireland and Australia-New Zealand. The film follows Giovanni (Shiloh Fernandez) who, on the 10th anniversary of his father’s death, reluctantly accepts the task of bringing a cake to the home of his uncle, a mob boss, for a celebration. Just two hours into the night, Gio’s life is forever changed after witnessing a murder and learning the truth about what happened to his late father. The film also stars Ewan McGregor, Val Kilmer, Lorraine Bracco, and William Fichtner.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Spectrum Originals has given a 10-episode order to Joe Pickett, a drama series based on C.J. Box’s bestselling novels. Michael Dorman (Patriot, For All Mankind) has been tapped for the title role. Joe Pickett follows a game warden and his family as they navigate the changing political and socio-economic climate in a small rural town in Wyoming. Surrounded by rich history and vast wildlife, the township hides decades of schemes and secrets that are yet to be uncovered. The series will air for a nine-month exclusive run on Spectrum.

Clive Owen is set to star in Monsieur Spade, a one-hour drama series from Scott Frank (The Queen's Gambit) and Tom Fontana (City on a Hill). The predominantly French language series centers around writer Dashiell Hammett’s great detective, Sam Spade (Owen) who has been quietly living out his golden years in the small town of Bozuls in the South of France. It’s 1963, the Algerian War has just ended, and in a very short time, so, too, will Spade’s tranquility.

Matthew McConaughey is attached to star in a series adaptation of the John Grisham novel, A Time for Mercy, which is currently in development at HBO. The book, published in 2020, is a follow-up to Grisham’s books, A Time to Kill and Sycamore Row, which center on the character of attorney Jake Brigance. In A Time for Mercy, Brigance must defend a young man who killed his mother’s boyfriend, a deputy sheriff, with the boy claiming the man was abusive towards his mother, himself, and his little sister.

FX is in early development on a drama based on Elmore Leonard's novel, City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit. The story centers on Raymond Cruz, a Detroit homicide detective, and his quest to bring a killer nicknamed the "Oklahoma Wildman" to justice after the latter kills a judge. Leonard's novella, Fire in the Hole, served as source material for the popular TV series, Justified, and there is some talk of bringing the show's star, Timothy Olyphant, back to play U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in the new project.

Wiip, the independent studio created by former ABC chief, Paul Lee, is developing Young Agatha, a TV series exploring the teenage years of Agatha Christie, the iconic British crime writer behind genre-defining characters including Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. The project will tell the story of how a precocious teenager mourning her father’s death became one of the most prolific and beloved mystery novelists of all time. Set in the early 1900s in Devon, England, the series is being described as "an action-packed drama," and a “dynamic and supercharged coming-of-age story."

In a competitive situation, Peacock has landed Poker Face, a mystery drama from Knives Out director, Rian Johnson, set to star Natasha Lyonne. Plot details about the series are being kept under wraps, but Johnson said, "I’m very excited to dig into the type of fun, character driven, case-of-the-week mystery goodness I grew up watching."

BritBox, the BBC and ITV’s joint-venture streamer, has acquired ITV’s John Simm drama, Grace, for the U.S. and Canada, set to premiere on April 27. Told as two feature-length episodes, Grace is from Endeavour creator, Russell Lewis, and is an adaptation of the first two of Peter James’s Roy Grace crime novels, Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead. The novels introduce Brighton-based Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, a hard-working police officer who has given his life to the job.

EastEnders actress, Jessica Plummer, has joined Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo in The Girl Before, the limited series for HBO Max and BBC One. Based on JP Delaney’s bestselling psychological thriller, the story follows Jane (Mbatha-Raw), a traumatized woman who falls in love with an extraordinary minimalist house, which remains under the spell of the architect (Oyelowo) who originally designed it. But when she discovers that another damaged woman died in the same property three years earlier, she starts to wonder if her own story is just a rerun of the girl before.

Writer/producer David Eick (Battlestar Galactica) is developing a remake of 1973 feature film, Walking Tall, which is being set up as a two-hour TV movie at the Peacock streaming service with hope of future installments or an ongoing series. The original was based on the life of Sheriff Buford Pusser and starred Joe Don Baker as the professional wrestler turned lawman. The reboot will star WWE's Charlotte Flair playing a Tucson cop who finds herself caught in a web of fraud, exploitation, and murder and is forced to go full vigilante to protect her home town.

Killing Eve is coming to an end with its delayed fourth season (set to premiere in 2022), but BBC America is developing a number of potential spinoffs. The cat-and-mouse thriller stars Jodie Comer as assassin, Villannelle, and Sandra Oh, as British intelligence agent, Eve Polastri. The network and production company didn’t disclose specific spinoff ideas, but some have suggested potential targets might be The Twelve, the shadowy organization that is associated with Villanelle, or The Bitter Pill, a group of investigative journalists that help Polastri investigate.

Canadian series, Burden of Truth, has been canceled and will wrap up with its Season 4 finale. Debuting on CBC in July of 2018, and airing in the U.S. on The CW, the legal drama centered on Joanna Hanley (Kristin Kreuk), a big city lawyer who returned to her hometown to take the case of a number of girls grappling with a perplexing illness. Created by Brad Simpson, the series also starred Peter Mooney, Star Slade, Meegwun Fairbrother, Anwen O’Driscoll, and Nicola Correia-Damude.

AMC Networks streamer, Acorn TV, has renewed its darkly comic British crime series, Queens Of Mystery, for a second season, with production already underway in southeast England. The show follows a perennially single female detective and her three well-known crime writing aunts, who help her solve whodunit-style murders as well as set her up on blind dates. Olivia Vinall played detective Matilda Stone in the first season, but will be replaced by Florence Hall in the second due to a scheduling conflict. Julie Graham, Sarah Woodward, and Siobhan Redmond return as Stone’s aunts.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the first two chapters of Out of Time by Cathi Stoler, as read by actor Ian Jones.

Writer Types host, Eric Beetner, was joined by Greg Levin (author of The Exit Man and Sick To Death) as co-host in the latest episode. They chatted with debut medical thriller author, Tammy Euliano (Fatal Intent), thriller writer, Rio Youers (Lola On Fire), and true crime author, Harold Schechter (Maniac).

Suspense Radio welcomed debut author, Susan Ouellette, to talk about her book, The Wayward Spy, and how her background in the CIA made her the perfect fit to become a writer of spy thrillers.

David Heska Wanbli Weide‪n, a citizen of the Sicangu Lakota nation, stopped by Wrong Place, Write Crime to discuss his Edgar-nominated novel, Winter Counts, as well as exploring the setting for the book, a Native American reservation.

My Favorite Detective Stories spoke with Daniel J. Waters, an open-heart surgeon who's authored several medical books as well as a thriller series featuring Surf City Police Chief, Mickey Cleary.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club discussed books by Irish mystery authors Carlene O'Connor, Olivia Kiernan, and Graham Norton

Queer Writers of Crime spoke with JB Sanders, author of a satirical "Hardy Boys" style mystery series, about the fine balance between suspense and humor.

Rachel Howzell-Hall was interviewed by Robert Justice for Crime Writers of Color. Hall writes the acclaimed Lou Norton series, has been nominated for the Anthony, Lefty, and Thriller Awards, and co-wrote The Good Sister with James Patterson.

Listening to the Dead was joined by pathologist Dr. Brett Lockyer, part of the experienced team at Forensic Access, to reveal how to tell the difference between strangulation and hanging during a post mortem, and where best to look for evidence that a suicide is not what it seems.

On Crime Time FM, Peter May talked about his new Enzo MacLeod thriller, The Night Gate; writing the "new normal" into fiction; why he’s enjoying some well earned down time; and why he's not looking forward to a coming French adaptation of one of his Chinese set novels relocated to Korea.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

FFB: Murder for Treasure

Welshman David Williams (1926-2003), the son of a journalist, studied modern history at St. John's College, Oxford, though his studies were interrupted by World War II and three years he spent as an officer in the Royal Navy. After the war, he began a career in advertising as a medical copywriter, rising through the ranks at various companies until he started his own agency.



On the side, Williams developed his hobby of writing crime fiction and published his first novel in 1976, Unholy Writ. He said of his efforts,"I write whodunits which are aimed to be above all credible, civilised entertainments, incidentally informative. And to lace them with humour - the last as an enduring legacy from two friends and mentors, Bruce Montgomery (who wrote as Edmund Crispin) and Kingsley Amis." His ultimate hero in crime fiction was witty author Michael Innes.



At the age of 51, Williams suffered a major stroke that almost killed him. Eventually, he overcame partial paralysis and impaired speech to make a recovery, but realizing he wouldn't be able to work at his old career, he decided to take up crime writing full time. His series featuring urbane and humorous banker Mark Treasure and his successful actress wife Molly eventually included 19 installments that received good reviews, primarily for his wit and plotting. This latter bit amused him, because, as he said, "I rarely know the identity of the killer until the penultimate chapter." 



Two of Williams' books were shortlisted for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award, including 1980's Murder for Treasure, and Williams was later elected to the Detection Club. However, that fame didn't stop his disappointment at not having the Treasure books adapted for television like Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series. Toward that end, he started a new series featuring Chief Inspector Merlin Parry of the South Wales Constabulary, along with his sidekick, Sergeant Gomer Lloyd, but TV executives weren't interested in the four books in that series, either.



Murder for Treasure was the third of the Treasure books, and sends London banker Mark Treasure to a tiny West Wales sailing village. His quest: to convince elderly Judge Henry Nott-Herbert to sell his stock in Rigley's Patent Footbalm to the American Hutstacker Chemical Corporation. On the train to Wales, Treasure becomes involved in the attempted murder of an Australian clergyman, who disappears, along with a mysterious package Treasure was given to deliver to the Judge. When Treasure sees two tough-looking youths with the package at one of the train stops, gunfire ensues and the package rips open to reveal a shrunken, hairy head with a painted face—a ventriloquist's doll.



The strangeness continues once Treasure arrives in the village. He finds the rich Judge—an amateur magician who's about to wed the lovely young widow Anna Spring—obsessed with a sighting by a "psychic" and her parrot of a naked dead body in the harbor; a body that later went missing. Stranger and more serious still, the clergyman's corpse turns up seaside, and Treasure finds himself in the middle of Anna's love life, an insurance scam, corrupt cops and the deceptions of foot-balm executives and their sultry spouses.



Most of Williams' books were out of print for years, although Black Dagger re-released Murder for Treasure in 2000, Treasure Up in Smoke in 2003 and Treasure by Degrees in 2004. From 2012-2016, the Bello Books imprint also re-released several of Williams' crime titles.

          

Mystery Melange

The finalists for the 33rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards were announced this week, selected by a panel of over 60 literary professionals from more than 1,000 book submissions (and over 300 publishers). The titles in the LGBTQ Mystery category include Death Before Dessert by A.E. Radley; Find Me When I’m Lost by Cheryl A. Head; Fortune Favors the Dead by Stephen Spotswood; I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan; and Vera Kelly Is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht. This is the first year for the combined LGBTQ category of five nominees; in previous years, there were five finalists each for Best Lesbian and Best Gay mystery.

The finalists for the Foreword Reviews Book Awards were announced, including those in the Mystery and Thriller & Suspense Categories. More than 2,000 entries spread across 55 genres were submitted for consideration, with the finalists determined by Foreword’s editorial staff. Winners are now being decided by teams of librarians, and winners in each genre—along with Editor’s Choice Prize winners and Foreword’s Independent Publisher of the Year—and will be announced June 17, 2021.

The NAACP Image Awards that were just announced include a category for Outstanding Literary Works. Among that list are the crime fiction/author titles, Lakewood by Megan Giddings (HarperCollins Publishers) and The Awkward Black Man by Walter Mosley (Grove Atlantic). For all nominees, follow this link. (HT to Mystery Fanfare)

I'm a day late for pointing out Mystery Fanfare's list of St. Patrick's Day crime fiction, but we'll just consider it St. Patrick's week and call it square.

Steve Powell of the Venetian Vase blog continues his series on the influences of music in James Ellroy's crime novels.

During the pandemic, the Ohio Shakespeare Festival has been performing original radio plays for at-home listening, including some based on mystery-related works. The offerings include "The False Burton Combs" based on the story by Carroll John Daly; "Lady Molly of Scotland Yard" based on the stories by Baroness Orczy; and "The Monkey's Paw" based on the short story by W. W. Jacobs. (HT to The Bunburyist)

Just another reminder to support your local bookstores before they're gone forever.

What happens in your brain when you "lose yourself" in fiction? Scientists now have a better idea.

The latest flash fiction piece up at Shotgun Honey is "Lemmings" by Jay Butkowski

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "Murder They Say" by Sharon Lask Munson.

In the Q&A roundup, E. B. Davis interviewed Amy Pershing about A Side of Murder, the first book in Amy Pershing’s Cape Code Foodie Mystery series, for the Writers Who Kill blog; and J.A. Jance chatted with Deborah Kalb about Missing and Endangered, the latest in her Joanna Brady suspense series.

         Related StoriesMystery Melange 

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning and include a few crime dramas. Among the Best Movie nods are Judas and the Black Messiah, Promising Young Woman, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. In the Best Actress category, Andra Day was nominated for The United States vs. Billie Holiday, and Carey Mulligan for Promising Young Woman. In the Best Supporting Actor category, Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield were nominated for Judas and the Black Messiah and Sacha Baron Cohen for The Trial of the Chicago 7. For all the nominees in the various categories, follow this link.

Likewise, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts announced the nominees for the annual BAFTA awards, which also include nods for several crime dramas. The Best Film category includes The Mauritanian, Promising Young Woman, and The Trial of the Chicago 7. The Best British Film category includes the Irish crime drama, Calm With Horses as well as The Mauritanian and Promising Young Woman. For all the nominees, follow this link.

New Line has picked up the action-thriller, Classified, with Chad Stahelski (John Wick) attached to direct, and Andrew Deutschman and Jason Pagan set to pen the screenplay. The log line for Classified describes the project as a "high octane, cat-and-mouse thriller, in the vein of Die Hard meets Indiana Jones, set inside a top secret government bunker that contains relics covertly recovered during World War II — that turn out to be more powerful and dangerous than ever imagined."

Elizabeth Banks, who most recently directed the latest Charlie’s Angels installment, has signed on to direct Cocaine Bear for Universal Pictures. Written by Jimmy Warden, the film is a thriller inspired by true events that took place in Kentucky in 1985 when a bear's death from ingesting cocaine led to a corrupt narcotics officer and drug smuggling ring.

Rob Delaney, Charles Parnell, Indira Varma, Mark Gatiss, Cary Elwes, and Greg Tarzan Davis have rounded out the cast of Mission: Impossible 7 starring Tom Cruise. They join previously announced new cast members Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff and Esai Morales, as well as returning actors, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames and Vanessa Kirby. The most recent installment ramped up production late last year after its filming was put on pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The plan was to shoot installments seven and eight back-to-back, but Deadline recently reported production on the eighth film will occur in 2022 in order to give cast and crew a break.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Apple TV+ has given a straight-to-series order for a new limited series from director Alma Har’el (Honey Boy) starring Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o. The project, titled Lady in the Lake, is an adaptation of the 2019 novel of the same name by Laura Lippman. Set in 1960s Baltimore, the series centers on Maddie Schwartz (Portman), a housewife and mother who is pushed by an unsolved murder to reinvent her life as an investigative journalist. The case sets her on a collision course with Cleo Sherwood (Nyong’o), a hard-working woman juggling motherhood, many jobs, and a passionate commitment to advancing Baltimore’s Black progressive agenda.

Peacock has given a series order for Dan Brown’s Langdon (f/k/a Langdon), based on Brown’s best-selling thriller novel, The Lost Symbol. The series was originally developed by NBC and ordered to pilot by the network last year. Written by Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie, Dan Brown’s Langdon follows the early adventures of famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Ashley Zukerman), who must solve a series of deadly puzzles to save his kidnapped mentor and thwart a chilling global conspiracy.

Patrick Harbinson (Homeland) is adapting author Kate London’s novel, Post Mortem, into a three-part ITV series. The drama will be titled The Tower, in a nod to the novel’s thrilling opening sequence in which a veteran beat cop and teenage girl fall to their deaths from a tower block in south-east London, leaving a five-year-old boy and rookie police officer Lizzie Griffiths on the roof — only for them to go missing. Detective Sergeant Sarah Collins works to solve the disappearances and uncover the truth behind the grisly tower block deaths. Collins and Griffiths later become the central characters in three books written by Kate London, a former Met officer.

Dakota Fanning is joining Ripley, starring opposite Andrew Scott. She'll play Marge Sherwood, an American living in Italy who suspects darker motives underlie the affability of Tom Ripley (Scott). Based on Patricia Highsmith’s books, the series follows Tom Ripley, a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York, who is hired by a wealthy man to try to convince his vagabond son, Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), who is living a comfortable, trust-funded ex-pat life in Italy, to return home. Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud, and murder.

Claire Foy and Paul Bettany are set as the stars of Amazon and BBC One’s A Very British Scandal, a follow-up to the Hugh Grant-led, A Very English Scandal. The three-part series focuses on the divorce of the Duke (Bettany) and Duchess of Argyll (Foy), one of the most notorious, extraordinary, and brutal legal cases of the 20th Century that included accusations of forgery, theft, violence, drug-taking, secret recording, bribery, and an explicit Polaroid picture.

Queen Latifah is going to hunt more bad guys following the news that CBS has renewed The Equalizer for a second season after only four episodes. The Equalizer stars Latifah as Robyn McCall, an enigmatic woman with a mysterious background who uses her extensive skills as a former CIA operative to help those with nowhere else to turn.

More good nenewal news, this time for the British crime drama series, Bloodlands, which stars James Nesbitt and comes from Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio. The BBC announced it was renewing that series for a second season. The noir-ish drama follows DCI Tom Brannick (Nesbitt), a veteran detective who delves into his own dark past to try and solve an infamous cold case with enormous personal significance: a series of mysterious disappearances linked to a turbulent period in Northern Ireland history over 20 years ago.

Queen of the South fans aren't as lucky, since USA announced the show will end with its upcoming fifth season. The Alice Braga-led crime drama (an adaptation of the best-selling novel La Reina Del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte) tells the story of Teresa Mendoza, a woman who is forced to run from the Mexican cartel and seek refuge in America. Eventually, she rises to power over her own drug trafficking empire.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast episode is up, a special bonus episode that features an excerpt from the audio book of Death in Rancho Las Amigas by Gay Toltl Kinman, as read by actor and mystery author, Harley Jane Kozak.

Debbi Mack interviewed crime writer, Laurie Buchanan, on the Crime Cafe podcast. Buchanan's debut novel, Indelible, introduces Sean McPherson, an ex-cop turned handyman at a writer's retreat where the story takes place.

Read or Dead hosts, Katie and Nusrah, chatted about mystery/thrillers that feature revenge and serial killers, and how these narratives uncover stories that often go unheard.

Speaking of Mysteries welcomed Jess Montgomery, whose protagonist, Sheriff Lily Ross, returns in The Stills, the third installment of Montgomery’s series that takes place in 1920s Prohibition-era southeastern Ohio.

Wendy Heard was the latest guest on the Queer Writers of Crime podcast. Heard is the author of two adult thrillers, The Kill Club and Hunting Annabelle, which Kirkus Reviews praised as "a diabolically plotted creep show."

Suspense Radio bought back bestselling author, Joel Rosenberg, to talk about his latest book in the Marcus Ryker series, The Beirut Protocol.

Wrong Place, Write Crime spoke with Ryan Sayles about his latest police procedural, It's Ugly Because It's Personal.

The internationally bestselling Anne Perry stopped by It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club. Perry is the author of two long-running series, one with Victorian policeman Thomas Pitt and his well-born wife Charlotte and another featuring private detective William Monk and volatile nurse Hester Latterly. The New York Times selected Perry as one of the "100 Masters of Crime."

The latest In GAD We Trust episode examined the Dr. Thorndyke Stories of R. Austin Freeman.

Listening to the Dead host, Lynda Plante, tackled the topic, "Cause of Death – Gunshot Wound" in the latest episode. She was joined by former Senior Forensic Scientist, David Pryor, an internationally-renowned expert in the field of firearms and wound ballistics.

On the new podcast, Crime Time FM, Tony Parsons interviewed Paul Burke about his new novel, Your Neighbour's Wife. Parsons also discussed his love of the iconic thriller/chiller, Rebecca; tackled topics as diverse as the death of print journalism, David Bowie on drugs, and gambling the pension on becoming a crime writer; and took a look at "why Lee Child bosses it."

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Quote of the Week

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Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Murder Sails at Midnight

Marian Babson (1929-2017) is a pseudonym for Ruth Stenstreem, who was born in Salem, Massachusetts, but spent most of her adult life in London. She worked a variety of jobs as a librarian, as a den mother to a firm of commercial artists, as a campaign headquarters manager, and as coeditor of a knitting machine magazine despite the fact she can't knit. Eventually, she turned to writing mysteries, penning over 30 novels (the last in 1999) and served for ten years as secretary of the Crime Writers Association, from 1976 to 1986.



The publisher's tagline for her books is "Murder Most British," which indicates the "cozy" or traditional tone of her writing. Babson re-used some characters in her novels, including aging actresses Trixie Dolan and Evangeline Sinclair and the publicity firm of Douglas Perkins & Gerry Tate, although even the series books can be read in any order. Many of her novels, especially the Perkins & Tate series, involve cats, with such titles as Canapes For The Kitties and Miss Petunia's Last Case.



But Babson also wrote standalone suspense novels like Murder Sails at Midnight (1975), a closed-setting-style plot, in which the action all takes place aboard a cruise ship. Four wealthy women sail from New York to Genoa aboard the luxury liner Beatrice Cenci in first-class. We learn early on that another passenger, "Mr. Butler," has been hired to make sure one of the women doesn't finish the voyage. The book thus becomes not a "who dunnit," but a "who will get it," because we don't know the identity of the intended victim, although each woman has secrets and also individuals in their lives who would benefit from their deaths.



Babson's writing has been described as possessing a coolly amused, ironic voice, much in evidence in Murder Sails at Midnight, which has a more serious tone than her Dolan/Sinclair and Perkins/Tate books. As to how she came up with the idea for the book, Babson wrote in an essay for Mystery Readers Journal that she was an avid traveler and had freqently taken cruises:

"Death, if not murder, is part of shipboard life. Sadly, by the very nature of things quite a few passengers tend to be elderly and not always in the best of health. Two of them died on one of my recent voyages."

She also experienced ship bomb threats, as well as sailing through the tag-end of a hurricane and "man overboard" scenarios. She added,

"A friend of mine once told me, 'I love to listen to your travel stories -- but I never want to travel with you.' I don't blame her. There are times when I don't want to travel with me, either, but what choice do I have? On the other hand, look at all the material I collect."

          

Mystery Melange

St. Edmund Hall’s Centre for the Creative Brain will present an evening of mystery and crime tonight, March 11th, exploring what drives people to commit crime, the makeup of a criminal mind, and why we are so fascinated by it. This free online event will feature G.M. Malliet, Agatha Award-winning author of the acclaimed St Just mysteries, the Max Tudor mysteries, and the novel, Weycombe; and Dr. Julia Shaw, a psychological scientist and science communicator whose work focuses on criminal psychology and areas of memory.

The Romantic Novelists' Association handed out their annual Romantic Novel Awards, including the Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller Award (for the best romantic novel with thriller, mystery, crime, or suspense elements), which was won by Louise Douglas for The House by the Sea. The other finalists in that category include The Forgotten Sister by Nicola Cornick; Death Comes to Cornwall by Kate Johnson; The Twins by Jane Lark; and Escape to the Little Chateau by Marie Laval.

On her Mystery Fanfare blog, Janet Rudolph reported on the passing of mystery author Judith Van Gieson. She wrote the Neil Hamel series and the Claire Reynier series, as well as a stand-alone novel, children's books, short stories, non-fiction, and poetry. She was awarded the Literary Spirit of Magnifico Award and the Zia Award for Best Fiction Work by a female writer from New Mexico. She was also shortlisted for the Shamus Award.

Mystery Scene Magazine released its first issue of the year, which includes Art Taylor reading all the Edgar short story winners from the founding of Mystery Writers of America to the present; interviews with authors J.T. Ellison, Charles Finch, and Edwin Hill; a look at composer Miklós Rózsa’s work, the maestro behind a slew of noir film scores; contributors' "Faves Raves of 2020"; Jon L. Breen's survey of current legal thrillers in "Disorder in the Court," and much more.

The latest issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine is also out, with new short fiction by Chris Preston, Jeff Soloway, Brandon Barrows, Jack Clark, Roger Johns, Mark Thielman, and Jeffrey A. Lockood. [Disclaimer: there's also a story in this edition by yours truly, BV Lawson.]

The bestselling British author Ken Follett is donating the proceeds from his book about the Notre-Dame fire to help restore a cathedral in Brittany. Follet is giving €148,000 ($176,000) towards a multimillion euro project to save Saint-Samson de Dol-de-Bretagne cathedral.

Alex Michaelides’ novel, The Silent Patient, has reached 50 foreign sales for publication and translation rights in other countries, described as "a record-breaker" for a thriller debut.

Mike Ripley's latest "Getting Away with Murder" column for Shots Magazine has tidbits and reviews from new releases by Russ Thomas, Chris Brookmyre, Mick Herron, Kevin Sullivan, Alan Parks, Robert Goddard, Michael Ridpath, Alex Finlay, Peter Swanson, Paul Vidich, Marcello Fois, and Alan Judd. Ripley also shares a remembrance of the late Margaret Maron.

Crime author, Peter James, is auctioning off the custom-made desk he's used for nearly seventeen years to write his Detective Roy Grace novels. James said he first got the desk in about 2003, and said it even contained secret compartments to protect his research and work.

The latest crime poem at the 5-2 Weekly is "And Her Eyes Made Love to Him" by Catfish McDaris.

In the Q&A roundup, Donna Leon stopped by CrimeReads for a look back on thirty years of writing her Inspector Guido Brunetti novel series; Sarah Pearse, author of the debut novel, The Sanatorium, was interviewed for the Shots Magazine blog by Ayo Onatade; and Harlan Coben was featured in conversation with the New York Times about publishing his 33rd novel, deals with Netflix, Amazon and Apple, and writing in Ubers, at Stop & Shop and just about anywhere else he can.

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